Walser Automotive Group is thinking about the success of its employees in a new way—by focusing on their children. A new scholarship program launching this month now extends new education benefits to employees’ children and dependents.
The Walser Driven to Succeed Scholarship is offering up to $10,000 in tuition assistance in support of higher education. The scholarship will support students of Walser employees who are pursuing technical and associates degrees, four-year, and masters-level programs.
The program, funded by the Walser Foundation, allows children and dependents of Walser employees to apply to the scholarship annually up to four years. Among other eligibility criteria, applicants are asked to submit an essay based upon one of Walser’s four core values.
The Walser Foundation, which donates over $500,000 annually to nonprofit organizations, also offers a public-facing scholarship to high school students in the places where it does business.
The bird flu is spreading to additional poultry flocks in Minnesota, according to the state Board of Animal Health.
The latest outbreak of avian influenza has now affected 13 flocks in the state, up from seven last Friday.
The newly reported cases all are in commercial turkey flocks — two in Kandiyohi County and one each in Becker, Dodge, Le Sueur and Stearns counties.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture team is helping Minnesota agencies respond to the current outbreak, including quarantining infected flocks, disease surveillance and coordinating logistics and finances.
The ALS Association, the country’s largest nonprofit organization devoted to curing and caring for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), thanked state leaders in Minnesota for passing legislation that includes a $25 million grant to fund ALS research and support caregivers in the state.
ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the death of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing the muscles in the body to gradually weaken. This leads to loss of limb function, difficulty breathing, paralysis, and eventually death. There is currently no known cause or cure for the disease.
Under the legislation, Minnesota will disperse $20 million to the Minnesota Officer of Higher Education to award competitive research grants to scientists studying the prevention, treatment, causes or cures of ALS. Applicants may range from research facilities, universities or health systems located in Minnesota. An additional $5 million will be dedicated to helping caregivers care for loved ones living with ALS.
The $25 million commitment from Minnesota is the largest funding source dedicated to ALS from a single state and will act as a driving force forward on the quest to a cure. The funds will be available until June 30, 2026.
Annabelle Wiskus can be reached at annabelle.wiskus@stthomas.edu.
With my amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the first thing that happened almost 2 years ago now, was speaking as if I were drunk. I wasn’t. I initially did improve speech (articulating clearly but slow) but now I can no longer speak in an acceptable way. Then, a year later eating became problematic, I was biting my tongue and lips, and chewing became weak and less controlled. Soon after that some fingers started to fail me and things would drop out of my hands. Somewhere at that time bulbar ALS was diagnosed. The Rilutek (riluzole) did very little to help me. The medical team did even less. My decline was rapid and devastating.. We tried every shot available but nothing was working. There has been little if any progress in finding a reliable treatment, Our care provider introduced us to Kycuyu Health Clinic ALS/MND herbal treatment. The treatment is a miracle.i recovered significantly!